Prayer in the book of James presents most interesting features.
First, there is the encouragement to prayer which the Holy Spirit addresses to our hearts by reminding us that Elias who wrought so wondrously was a man of like passions to ourselves. It is as if we were told, "There is an example for you; see what is open to you!”
Secondly, James, by the Holy Spirit, makes a positive revelation of facts in Elijah's history, which otherwise we should not have known. The historical books give us the outward ads of Elijah: James reveals the process which brought them about. Elijah's first introduction to us is in 1 Kings 17:11And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. (1 Kings 17:1), where the great drama of his exploits is opened with the simple statement that he "said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word." This is the first mention of Elijah. Nothing is said of him but that he was a Tishbite of Gilead. Who he was, how it happened that this person with no official authority should thrust himself into the presence of the king, and make such a terrible announcement, the history does not say. But there is a great underlying principle. It is that when the official representation of God is false, God's Spirit will raise up a witness from outside. It is always so. "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him." Isa. 59:1919So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. (Isaiah 59:19). And there is nothing in which God's sovereignty is more displayed than in the instruments He chooses. When the civil rule is apostate, and eight hundred false prophets are loud in the land, He will act by whom He will.
Now James reveals the secret of Elijah's surprising action. That secret was communion with God. "Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit." James 5:17, 1817Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. (James 5:17‑18).
Thus the Old Testament gives us the magnificent public action; James reveals the prayer on which it was based. This secret dealing of God with His servants is His constant way. David slays the lion and the bear, using the power of God where no one sees him, before he wields the weapon of faith in front of the armies of Israel. Moses, a learned man, has with all that weight of learning, to pass forty years keeping a flock in the desert before he is used to face Pharaoh arid deliver Israel. Elijah's proceedings, which read like the intrepid actings of a hero, are shown to be the product of prayer, and when afterward his communion falls in its level, he is discovered as a man of like passions with ourselves, for the prophet who could boldly confront the majesty of the king flees for his life at the threat of the king's wife. This shows that it is only as sustained by God that we can act for Him. "Without Me, ye can do nothing.”
Thirdly, the example of Elijah is given by James as both illustration and proof of a general principle, namely, that "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." James 5:1616Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (James 5:16). But this translation is admitted to be unsatisfactory. That a prayer which is "effectual" avails much is a truism. If it is effectual it avails completely, and it is anti-climactic to say that it avails much when it is already admitted to avail perfectly. Mr. Darby's translation gives, "The fervent [or, operative] supplication of a righteous man has much power," which is closer to the original than either the Authorized or the Revised Version. Probably the essential points of the scripture are: (a) that the supplicant is a righteous man; (b) that his prayer is energetic-not a listless, apathetic, indolent performance, but the prayer of one who means it. Paul is an example of this when on one occasion he speaks of himself as "night and day praying exceedingly," etc. (1 Thess. 3:1010Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith? (1 Thessalonians 3:10)), or, as Jacob on another occasion, "I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me;" (c) that prayer of this character has indeed much power. This is the moral which the Apostle James enforces.
Fourthly, we need to consider prayer in connection with sickness. A system has arisen and been much talked about, which takes the name of "Faith-healing." This, while ostensibly based upon James 5, is little short of a pretense to miraculous powers. The published writings on the subject include gross false doctrine, which will not here be examined.
But a brief indication of the real bearings of the scripture in question may, perhaps, be profitable. The passage is as follows: "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." James 5:14-1614Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 16Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (James 5:14‑16).
Now in these verses we have at the outset a defining note which restrains the application of the passage beyond a certain limit; the application is expressly to the sick "among you," that is, the assembly of God's people. This scripture, therefore, affords no warrant for a popular system of semi-miraculous cures administered to all. Sickness amongst God's people stands on special ground. It is sometimes on account of sin, as we have seen, and this passage in James recognizes that the sickness about which the elders were sent for might be such. It says, "If he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." This would not always be so, but if so, his sins should be forgiven him.
Again, so far from a publicly proclaimed system of healing, this was essentially private. The sick one was to send for the elders of the church, and they were to pray over him.
Furthermore, it might or might not be that the patient would himself have faith to be healed. The faith-healers imperatively require such faith; Scripture does not. The prayer spoken of in James is the prayer of the elders, and in reference to this it is said, "The prayer of faith shall save the sick." It may be easily supposed that the sick one would himself join in the prayer, and that, with more or less assurance of faith-but it was the "prayer of faith" that carried efficacy.
Finally, nothing could be more outside the scope of the passage in James than the popular notion of faith-healing. The case contemplated in James is clearly one of a very serious nature, where death is imminent, and so also in 1 John 5. The idea of the scripture being used as a substitute for medicines which God has provided in nature is not only unwarranted, but it is contrary to the scriptural and apostolic principle of using remedies for ailments (see both 2 Kings 20:77And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. (2 Kings 20:7). and 1 Tim. 5:2323Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities. (1 Timothy 5:23)). It is theological quackery. E. Thomas